Your first cruise ship

[Copper10-8]

 

Under that ownership starting on 27 March 1993, German tour operator Phoenix Seereisen started operating her initially under a five-year charter as Albatros for world-wide cruising for mainly German tourists. On 18 August 1993, she departed on her first cruise for Phoenix from Germany to North Cape, Norway.

 

On 22 May 1995, during a cruise in the Red Sea, an engine-room fire broke out forcing her passengers to be evacuated to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. After the fire was contained and eventually extinguished, Albatross, without her passengers, travelled via the Suez Canal to Livorno, Italy for temporary repairs. She then continued on to Germany, arriving at the Lloyd Werft, Bremerhaven in June for more permanent repairs. She returnred to service on 30 June 1995.

 

 

In November 2003, her charter contract having been extended, Albatros suffered severe machinery problems. As a result, Phoenix Seereisen decided to terminate the contract. Owners V-Ships, in turn, concluded that the price of repairing the the 46-year old ship was too high.

 

 

As a result, Albatross was sold to Indian scrappers in December 2003. She was renamed ss Genoa and departed Genoa, Italy on 21 December 2003 on her final journey to India. She arrived at Alang on 16 January 2004 where she was beached and subsequently broken up.

[CruiserBruce]

So, did Fairland become Fair Princess? And what has happened to her? We sailed on her from SF to Alaska on a 10 day back in 1995. She was built in 1957, a very important year to me.

 

We had a pretty large cabin- even by today's standards, but the two beds were not movable, and singles, so, somewhat less than romantic.

 

Also don't think she had any stabilizers. We hit a rough patch as we approached the Strait of Juan De Fuca, about 4 hours of the roughest seas we have ever experienced- before or since.

 

Not our first cruise, but still a memorable one. Sailing under the Golden Gate on a reasonably nice June day, w/o any fog.

Edited May 21, 2010 by CruiserBruce

[Copper10-8]

So, did Fairland become Fair Princess? And what has happened to her? We sailed on her from SF to Alaska on a 10 day back in 1995. She was built in 1957, a very important year to me.

 

We had a pretty large cabin- even by today's standards, but the two beds were not movable, and singles, so, somewhat less than romantic.

 

Also don't think she had any stabilizers. We hit a rough patch as we approached the Strait of Juan De Fuca, about 4 hours of the roughest seas we have ever experienced- before or since.

 

Not our first cruise, but still a memorable one. Sailing under the Golden Gate on a reasonably nice June day, w/o any fog.

 

Yes Sharks fan. That was Sylvania's older sister, Carinthia. Big plans as Fairland never panned out though (read below)

 

RMS Carinthia (1956-2006) Built by John Brown & Company Ltd, Clydebank, Scotland and delivered in June 1956 to the Cunard Steamship Company as RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Carinthia for their Liverpool-Montreal route, known as the Dominion service. In 1951, Cunard decided to order a series of four (initially two) identical liners, eventually referred to as the Saxonia class. Carinthia was the third ship of that class. Per Cunard's tradition, all four ships were named using the Latin names of provinces of the Roman and Holy Roman Empires; Saxonia (1954), Ivernia (1955), Carinthia (1956) and Sylvania (1957).These ships were largest ships to be operated to Canada at the time and were designed for luxury and speed carrying both passengers and cargo up the St. Lawrence river.

 

Her launch on 14 December 1955, performed by HRH Princess Margaret, was only the fourth time a Cunarder was launched by a member of the British Royal Family.The previous ones being RMS Queen Mary (by HM Queen Mary in 1934), RMS Queen Elizabeth (by HM Queen Elizabeth in 1938) and RMS Caronia (by HRH Princess Elizabeth in 1947). Carinthia was handed over to Cunard and set sail for Liverpool where she arrived on 17 June 1956. On 27 June, she embarked 890 passengers for her maiden voyage to Canada where she arrived for the first time on 27 June 1956.

 

Although it was planned that the new Saxonia-class ships would replace the old pre-war vessels that had been running the Canadian service, at the time that Carinthia entered service in 1956, the Franconia, Ascania and Scythia were still fully committed on the Canadian run. Subsequently, Franconia and Ascania would be withdrawn from the service in November 1956. Early in 1957, Scythia was transferred to the Liverpool- New York service and in January 1958 she was sold for scrap and at that time, the Canadian service was entirely in the hands of the new quartet. At the time of her entry into service, Cunard announced that Carinthia would undertake a “dollar earning cruise” out of New York to the Caribbean during the 1956-1957 Christmas and New Year holiday season. Consequently, in mid-December she departed Liverpool via Cobh, Ireland and Halifax, Nova Scotia for New York. She made her first ever port of call in Halifax on 20 December. Two days later, she left New York on a 14-day cruise that took her to Martinique, Trinidad, La Guaira (Venezuela), Curacao, Cristobal (Panama) and Port au Prince (Haiti), arriving back in New York on 6 January 1957. After returning to Liverpool, Carinthia underwent a brief overhaul. She made her first call at Rotterdam, the Netherlands on 31 October 1959 and remained there until 2 November.

 

On 20 November, she made her first port call Southampton. In April 1960 she made a record breaking crossing between Montreal and Greenock in 5 days, 6 hours and 27 minutes, averaging 21.8 knots. Carinthia narrowly avoided disaster on 30 August 1961 when, bound for Montreal from Liverpool and Greenock and in thick fog, 30 miles west of Quebec, she collided with the 7,013 ton Canadian ss Tadoussac. As a result, both vessels sustained damage with Tadoussac having windows and lifeboats smashed. Carinthia had 873 passengers on board at the time but luckily, there were no casualties onboard both vessels. It was later reported that only frantic last minute maneuvers by the pilots onboard each ship had avoided a head-on collision.

 

 

Between 29 December 1963 and 30 January 1964, Carinthia and sister Sylvania underwent refits in Liverpool which included the addition of private bathrooms as well as new interior decorating to eighty of their Tourist class cabins. This however, turned out not to be enough to make them competitive with other ships then in service, or being built. Both ships were pure transatlantic liners and were not suited for seasonal cruising. However, as the demand for transatlantic voyages in mid-winter was rapidly declining, a decision was made to send Carinthia and Sylvania on a series of winter cruises. So, on 7 January 1966, Carinthia sailed from Liverpool on a Mediterranean cruise. Two days after her return, she departed again on a similar 13-night cruise.

 

On 23 November 1967, Carinthia would depart Southampton for her final voyage across the Atlantic under the Cunard flag. This last voyage did not take her into her ususl route up the St. Lawrence since winter ice had become a hazard. Instead, she docked at Halifax and sailed from there back to England on 3 December. Six days later she was in Southampton and her Cunard Line career was over. She was laid up alongside the Caronia which had also been retired the previous month.

 

 

Carinthia and Sylvania would spend over two years laid up at Southampton’s 101 berth in Western Docks. On 31 January 1968, the pair was purchased for 2 million British Pound Sterling and the buyers were initially reported to be the Fairland Shipping Corporation and the Fairwind Shipping Corporation. Carinthia was to be renamed Fairland and Sylvania Fairwind. Instead however, they would sail for the Italian-based Sitmar Line or Societa Italiana Trasporti Marittimi S.p.A.

 

At the time of the purchase, Sitmar had the Australian government contract to carry immigrants from Southampton to Australia. However, almost as soon as Sitmar had bought the two ships, the Australian government awarded the contract to the Greek Chandris Line. Consequently, Fairland and Fairwind continued to lay up at the Southampton waterfront as Sitmar attempted to work out other ways of employing them. In the end, it was decided to totally (dude) rebuild the two ships into deluxe cruise ships based in Los Angeles, CA. Grandiose plans had them sailing north to San Francisco and Vancouver, BC before crossing the Pacific with calls at Honolulu, Hi. Papeete, Raitea, Pago Pago and Suva before arriving in Auckland, New Zealand and then Sydney. After about three months of cruising from Sydney a return voyage would be made to California. While one ship would be cruising from Sydney, the other one would be doing the same from Los Angeles. These trans-pacific voyages were due to start in May 1972.

 

The contract for the rebuilding of the ships was awarded to Arsenale Triestino, San Marco of Trieste, Italy. On 6 January 1970, Fairwind left Southampton under tow arriving in Trieste on 18 January. She was soon joined by Fairland on 21 February. While the ships were being rebuilt, Sitmar continued to market their proposed Pacific liner service and cruises, establishing Sitmar Cruises, Inc. However, despite their efforts they found that they could not arouse sufficient interest. Sitmar eventually saw the light and decided to market the new ships purely as cruise ships out of L.A. (Fairland had been renamed Fairsea) for Mexican Riviera cruises in the winter and to Alaska in the summer.

 

Upon leaving the Italian yard, Fairsea emerged as an elegant Italian cruise ship. Her superstructure was now extended forward while her once enclosed promenade from which to view the cold Atlantic had been opened up to allow passengers to enjoy tropical sea breezes. The greatest change was aft, where she now had tiered sun decks, a lido area and three outside pools. She also had a new raked funnel and had been repainted in an all white livery, with just three short blue stripes at her bow and her uppermost decks painted buff to match her funnel with now had the “V” (for Vlasov). On 3 November 1971, she left Trieste for Los Angeles via the Panama Canal, calling at Cadiz, St Thomas, Antigua and Acapulco. The voyage was a series of firsts for the former Cunarder: her first voyage through the Panama Canal and her first time in the Pacific. She arrived in Los Angeles on 9 December 1971 and then continued to San Francisco where she was officially presented to the press and representatives of the travel industry.

 

On 14 December 1971, Fairsea departed San Pedro (L.A.) on her first 6-day cruise to the Mexican Riviera. For the southbound portion, after departing at 9pm, the next two days were sea days. Her first call would be at Puerto Vallarta in the state of Sinaloa and the next day was again a sea day, before Fairsea would arrive in Acapulco on the morning of the 6th day. Her passengers would use the ship as their hotel that day and it was not until the following day that they would transfer to hotels in the city, flying home three days later. For the northbound cruise, passengers would fly down to Acapulco and after three nights there would board Fairsea for the cruise home via Zihuatanejo and Mazatlan. Both the southbound and northbound cruises could be combined to make it a 12-day round trip.

 

 

Between August and November, Fairsea was employed on two longer cruises: 17 days from Los Angeles to Acapulco, Balboa, through the Panama Canal to Cristobal, Cartagena, Colombia, Aruba, Martinique, San Juan, PR and Port Everglades, Fl. After an overnight stop at that port, she would begin the return cruise to Los Angeles. This was also 17 days and by calling at different Caribbean ports enabled the round trip to be marketed as a 35-day cruise.

 

In 1988 in anticipation of their new and larger cruise ships soon to enter service, Sitmar embarked on a program to update their image. The buff funnels were repainted deep blue and the V logo was replaced with a stylized swan in white and red. As a result of this re-branding all the ships were renamed with the addition of the Sitmar name as a prefix. However everything soon changed when on 28 July 1988, P&O announced that they were taking over Sitmar Cruises. Under this new ownership all Sitmar ships were to adopt the identity of P&O’s subsidiary, Princess Cruises. Fairsea was renamed Fair Princess with her sister becoming Dawn Princess. Both ships continued to operate their Sitmar schedules for a while. In 1993, Dawn Princess was withdrawn from service, however surprisingly, Fair Princess remained part of the Princess Cruises fleet. In 1995 however, news came that Princess Cruises was selling Fair Princess to Regency Cruises who would rename her Regent Isle.

 

Regency Cruises announced that the Fair Princess would be renamed Regent Isle and she was to sail from San Francisco to Hawaii on 14 October 1995. However, just days before Regency Cruises was to take delivery of her, it was revealed that the company was in serious financial difficulties. They stopped operating on the weekend of the 28th and 29th of October 1995. When Regency Cruises collapsed, the sale of the Fair Princess had not been finalized. As a result P&O / Princess Cruises were left with a ship they did not want. She was sent to for lay up at Ensenada, Baja California Sur, Mexico to await her fate.

 

In the summer of 1996 P&O announced that their P&O Australia ship, Fairstar would be replaced by the Fair Princess which would move to Australia. The Fair Princess was refitted in San Diego’s Southwest Marine dockyard to meet the new SOLAS requirements that had just come into effect. After crossing the Pacific, Fair Princess sailed her first cruise from Sydney to the South Pacific on 7 February 1997.

 

When the newly transferred Pacific Sky joined the P&O Australia fleet in November 2000, Fair Princess was repositioned to sail from Auckland, New Zealand. However, P&O announced on 19 June 2000 that they had put the by now 44-year old ship up for sale. Her buyers would be Chinese interest who wanted her as a casino ship. In 2000 she was positioned in Sydney for use as a hotel ship for the Olympic Games. At the conclusion of the games she had less than two months left as a Sydney-based cruise ship. A few days after her final cruise she slipped out of Sydney virtually unnoticed on 15 November 2000.

 

 

In February 2001 it was announced that her new owners, a company called China Sea Cruises, had changed her initial name of Emerald Fortune to China Sea Discovery. They would use her on the overnight gambling run from Hong Kong. This endeavor turned out to be far from successful. She was then used for cruises from Hainan Island which was also short lived and by June 2001, she was arrested and laid up in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. On 2 October 2002, she resumed cruising from Keelung, Taiwan. By 2003, she was laid up again, this time in derelict condition in Hong Kong. In early summer 2005 she was auctioned off and sold for scrap. On 20 November 2005, the former Carinthia under the delivery name Sea Discovery arrived at Alang, India and was beached. Thus the last surviving ship from the Saxonia Sisters quartet will soon be no more. On 17 February 2006 the beached and partially dismantled Sea Discovery suffered a serious fire in her engine room. The fire trapped some workers inside and nine of them had to be taken to local hospitals with burns. The fire left the ship a charred hulk from stem to stern.

[Copper10-8]

Some more pics of the former RMS Carinthia:

 

 

As Cunard's Carinthia in Liverpool in 1957

 

 

And a couple as Princess Cruises' Fair Princess

 

 

As Fair Princess for P&O Australia in 1997

 

 

One more as P&O Austrilia's Fair Princess

 

 

And one as China Sea Discovery in 2001 in better days

[CruiserBruce]

John- in your very informative text it says Fairsea became Fair Princess, not Fairland. I had been under that impression for awhile.

Edited May 22, 2010 by CruiserBruce

[Copper10-8]

John- in your very informative text it says Fairsea became Fair Princess, not Fairland. I had been under that impression for awhile.

 

Yes Sir, but before becoming Fairsea, she was named Fairland from 1968 until 1971, although she never sailed a commercial voyage under that name!;)

[smslms]

The ark. The captain had a long white beard and it rained a lot.;)

[Copper10-8]

The ark. The captain had a long white beard and it rained a lot.;)

 

 

sv The Ark

[retiredkid]

My first cruise was in 1989, on Ipirotiki's ship the JASON. a 7 day caribbean cruise with what felt like 174 stops. It was another 11 years before I went on another cruise.

Boston to Bermuda..... loved it. not quite hooked yet, but I know it won't be long. :)

[CruiserBruce]

Copper- I knew I couldn't fool you!:rolleyes:

[HALGirl]

My first cruise was on the SS Norway Oct 12, 1980. I remember Jack Jones (of the Love Boat Theme) and his dad Alan Jones were passengers.

 

But I didn't really get the cruise bug until Sept 14, 1986 when I cruised China on The Pearl of Scandinavia.

 

Joanne

[Copper10-8]

My first cruise was in 1989, on Ipirotiki's ship the JASON. a 7 day caribbean cruise with what felt like 174 stops. It was another 11 years before I went on another cruise.

Boston to Bermuda..... loved it. not quite hooked yet, but I know it won't be long.

 

 

mts Eros (1965-present) Originally built in 1965 as mts Eros, the second of three cruise/ferries, by Cantieri Runiti dell’ Adriatico, Monfalcone, Italy (her sisters were mts Aphrodite, the lead ship of the class, operated by Kavounides Shipping Co, and mts Adonis, operated by Nomikos Lines). They were the final installment of Italian World War II reparations to the Greek Government on behalf of the Hellenic Tourism Organisation. Eros was operated by Typaldos Lines, sailing three times per week from Piraeus to either Rhodes and Dodecanese or to Crete and back.

 

This service lasted only a year however, as in 1966 after a period in drydock, Eros was transformed into the luxury cruise ship ms Jason (aka Iason) sailing for Greek-based Epirotiki S.S. Navigation Co. (Epirotiki Line) (Aphrodite became ms Stella Oceanis for Sun Line and Adonis became ms Atlantis for K-Lines). Epirotiki would operate Jason on cruises throughout Europe starting in 1967. Several transatlantic crossing were also made, followed by cruises in the Caribbean

 

 

In 1992, she received another refit that concentrated on her interior design. In August 1995, Epirotiki agreed to merge its operations with Sun Line creating a new company named Royal Olympic Cruise Lines. The International Olympic Committee had a problem with the name Royal Olympic Cruise Line (they own the rights to the name 'Olympic'). but it wasn't until 2003 that the name was changed into Royal Olympia Cruise Lines.

 

Jason/Iason did not fit into the plans of, at the time, Royal Olympic and was subsequently laid up at Piraeus in 1997. In 2001, there were plans for her to be operated under charter to Destina Cruises as Destina Legacy but these did not materialize.

 

 

Seven years later, following the collapse of Royal Olympia in early 2004, Iason was reactivated for Epirotiki. On 1 February 2005, she was sold to Greek-based Olympic Short Cruises MTME, Co., however only ten months later on 5 December 2005, she was again sold, this time to Derwent Ocean Ltd, who renamed her Ocean Odyssey and had her extensively refurbished in 2006.

 

In September 2006, she would transit via the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean. In October, she began operating for Indian Ocean Cruises, offering a two-week itinerary around the southwest coast of India, sailing from Goa along the Malabar Coast to the Lakshadweep Islands/Archipelago with mainland India stops at Cochin, Mangalore, Trivandrum and Cape Comorin as well as at Colombo, the capitol of Sri Lanka.

 

 

After having completed a second season of voyages around the southwest coast of India that ended late spring 2008, Ocean Odyssey found herself laid up in the island nation of Mauritius. Plans to begin sailing the waters of the pristine island, beginning in December 2008, did not materialize. Indian Ocean Cruises made a statement that the plan had always been to use the ship as a floating hotel in the off season which is why the vessel was in Mauritius. In April 2009 Indian Ocean Cruises ceased operation and the ship was put up for sale. Unfortunately, the only buyer that could be found were the Indian scrappers who purchased her and had her nrought to the beaches of Alang, India for an inglorious end.

Edited May 22, 2010 by Copper10-8

[Copper10-8]

My first cruise was on the SS Norway Oct 12, 1980. I remember Jack Jones (of the Love Boat Theme) and his dad Alan Jones were passengers.

 

But I didn't really get the cruise bug until Sept 14, 1986 when I cruised China on The Pearl of Scandinavia.

 

Joanne

 

Page 83, 1649 + 1650!;)

[jtl513]

 

sv The Ark

 

:D:D:D But this made me wonder - have you ever been "stumped" on a ship that someone has mentioned that you haven't been able to find a picture for?

[Copper10-8]

:D:D:D But this made me wonder - have you ever been "stumped" on a ship that someone has mentioned that you haven't been able to find a picture for?

 

Yes, I believe once or twice! (the vast majority of this research is coming off the internet) But I also got the ss Minnow once;)

Edited May 22, 2010 by Copper10-8

[kcteach12]

First cruise was 2 years ago on the Star Princess to Alaska. Loved every minute of it!!! We will be sailing to Alaska again in July on the Zaandam. We're also talking about a cruise in 2 years to Canada/New England. We may be hooked on this.

[HALGirl]

Page 83, 1649 + 1650!;)

 

Copper, I see what happened to the SS Norway but what about The Pearl of Scandinavia?

 

Thanks.

[smslms]

Yes, I believe once or twice! (the vast majority of this research is coming off the internet) But I also got the ss Minnow once;)

 

Did Gilligan sail on her?:confused:

[mudscraper]

:D:D:D But this made me wonder - have you ever been "stumped" on a ship that someone has mentioned that you haven't been able to find a picture for?

I tried to stump John with the African Queen. It was a waste of time. His knowledge of all things buoyant is supreme.

 

 

Rich

[retiredkid]

 

 

thanks for sharing her history, John. At the time I thought she was a HUGE ship. lol

Edited May 22, 2010 by retiredkid

[MortgageChick]

Miami 5 nights. Was supposed to go to Key West and Cozumel, hurricane changed our plans to Key West and Nassau. I was such a travel virgin, I thought it was great to go to Nassau. All the passengers on board from Miami were grumbling LOL

 

Suffice to say I was hooked, cruise # 26 coming up in Sept 2010, #27 in December, #28 in May 2011 and # 29 in Oct 2011

Edited May 22, 2010 by MortgageChick

[HNLGAL]

Will pick this up again upon our return!

 

Hi Copper10-8:

Joanie suggested I try to contact you. I have tried sending a few replies to comments you have made in hopes of catching you but thus far, to no avail.

 

I hope you don't mind my writing you but I am desperate to find an objective answer to my questions and Joanie said you were objective and fair and were just back from a Ryndam cruise so I hope you can help. I am trying to decide between the Ryndam and Statendam for the repositioning cruise to Alaska in Sept. We were all set to go on the Statendam as I believe the itinerary is better (see below) but have read such horrific reviews of the Statendam the past few days, I wondered whether we would do better on the Ryndam? My question to you if I may is, first which itinerary of the two would be best for a first timer (and possibly only timer) to Alaska?

 

Statendam: Inside Passage, Juneau, Ketchikan, Glacier Bay and Skagway

Ryndam: Inside Passage, Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, and Tracy Arm

And second, which is more important to you…. The ship or the itinerary – IF you have never been to the destination nor been on either of the ships. My girlfriend has never cruised but I have considerably but never on HAL. I have to admit, I am high maintenance in that if I have paid more than $3000 of my very hard earned and penny-pinched money, I want it to be perfect. For that reason, we chose the Deluxe Verandah Suite on each vessel. We were originally on Celebrity Mercury but I was dissuaded from that ship as apparently they consider the poor girl the least appealing ship in their fleet. Have I gone and chose the same type of ship in HAL’s fleet with the Statendam????

 

Would VERY much appreciate your honest, objective thoughts.... We are committed to HAL, but I want to be sure to chose the best ship and the best itinerary.

Thanks so much!

HNLGAL

[HNLGAL]

Hey Copper... May I ask a favour please? Is there any way you could distinguish your ship rename's so one could scan through and see immediately the new names? Either all caps, or another colour or somesuch? I am thrilled to see all your write ups and am enjoying them immensely but during the reading, I have started looking for the name of the ship that brought me from Europe to Canada in 1965ish. She was small, and did not belong to a big line but she was wonderful. I want to say she was a European line (Italian? Greek?) but not sure. I just think I would recognize her name if I were to see it. Unfortunately I am not retired (yet) so don't have the luxury of the time to read through all of your informative posts but would still like to find her if I could. Hence my request. If it isn't too much trouble or too time consuming.

Thx Copper.

[Copper10-8]

Copper10-8 -- What a wonderful site I just started to read. The pictures of the ships are great. Our first of thirty cruises was on RCL's Nordic Empress. My father when he was 12 came to America from the Netherlands in 1927 with his family. They came over on the Nieu Amsterdam. I wonder about the history of that ship.

 

ms Nordic Empress (1990-present) Built in 1990 as ms Nordic Empress by Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St. Nazaire, France for Norwegian-based Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL). The ship had in fact been ordered by Admiral Cruises as a successor to their Emerald Seas and was to be named Future Seas for 3- and 4-day short cruises out of Miami, Fl. However as faith would have it, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line merged with Admiral Cruises on 21 October 1988, initially under the Royal Admiral Cruises name. Although it was pledged that the two companies would continue to operate separately, the Admiral brand was eventually dissolved and, in the spring of 1989, it was announced that the Future Seas, still under construction in France, would be incorporated into the Royal Caribbean fleet.

Future Seas’ design was based on Finnish-built ferries but in RCCL’s operation, she would have four specific design characteristics: A relatively small pool and lido area, a large, twin-deck main dining room overlooking her stern, a café/observation lounge above the bridge (the Windjammer) and a large casino. Nordic Empress, like the older Sovereign of the Seas, would have an atrium, RCCL calls them centrums, topped by a glass dome (two decks taller than Sovereign’s), a two-deck “Strike up the Band” main show lounge, a two-level “Carmen” main dining room, and the RCCL-trademark Viking Crown Lounge just aft of her funnel. Finally in a RCCL first, some of her upper-level cabins came equipped with balconies, considered, but never implemented on Sovereign. The ship’s name was changed to Nordic Empress, making her the final RCI ship whose name did not end with "of the Seas". The name Nordic Empress was chosen to represent Queen Margrethe I, a Danish-born monarch who had reigned over Denmark, Norway and Sweden in the mid-fourteenth century.

After a transatlantic voyage from St. Nazaire to Miami, Fl without passengers, Nordic Empress was christened on 25 July 1990 by her godmother, Cuban-born singer and recording artist Gloria Estafan. She departed that same afternoon o her maiden voyage, a four-day cruise to the Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas. At 48,563 tons Empress was smaller than the other ships in the Royal Caribbean Cruises fleet. She has ten passenger decks, two swimming pools, six bars, a casino, a fitness center, a 722-seat show lounge, 483 outside cabins, 69 of which have verandas and 318 inside cabins. She can carry 1,602 passengers and a crew of 685.

Her initial itinerary was short cruises to the Bahamas, which after some time, were combined with 3 and 4 day cruises from San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 1999, following the sale of Song of America, Nordic Empress took over the New York to Bermuda summer route for RCCL.

In August 1992, Nordic Empress, under the command of Captain Kjell Smitterberg, was forced to spent an extra day at sea when Hurricane Andrew struck Miami, Fl. She would be the first ship to reenter Miami after the hurricane and played an invaluable role as temporary home to RCCL employees in need, as well as supplier of ice and fresh water to RCCL’s Miami-based Headquarters’ cafeteria, local hospitals and day-care centers. In 1997, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line became Royal Caribbean International.

Following a brief fire in her main engine room on late Friday, 15 June 2001, Nordic Empress returned to Bermuda where nearly all of her 1,564 guests were flown home via New York. A few guests chose to remain in Bermuda and continue their vacation on RCI sister brand Celebrity Cruises' Horizon. The ship was 140 miles northwest of Bermuda when a fuel line ruptured between her third and fourth main propulsion engines, resulting in the fire. It was quickly extinguished by the ship's sprinkler system and no one was injured in the incident. After disembarking her passengers, Nordic Empress moved to Bermuda’s King's Wharf, where repairs were carried out to the two engines damaged in the fire. The repairs resulted in two future cruises having to be canceled.

While operating Bermuda cruises from New York City in the summer season, winters saw her operating 7-day western Caribbean cruises out of Miami with port calls at Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Belize. Just before Christmas 2003, Royal Caribbean International made an announcement that, effective the spring of 2004, it would move the Nordic Empress and, at the time, one of the world's largest cruise ships, the 3,114-passenger Voyager of the Seas, from New York’s Manhattan about ten miles south to Bayonne, New Jersey. In Bayonne, RCI had a warehouse on the old military pier converted into a cruise ship terminal. Since 1991, all of Royal Caribbean’s ships have had names ending in “of the Seas”. Following an extensive rebuilding, Nordic Empress‘ name was changed to Empress of the Seas on 8 May 2004 in order to match the rest of the fleet.

On 23 March 2007 Royal Caribbean International reported that Empress of the Seas would be transferred to the fleet of theirs subsidiary Spanish-based Pullmantur Cruises. Her final voyage for Royal Caribbean took place on 7 March 2008. Renamed ‘Empress’, in Pullmantur service, the vessel is operated on cruises from various European ports such as Lisbon, Portugal, Malaga, Spain, Helsinki, Finland and Copenhagen, Denmark on cruises to the Mediterranean and northern Europe. Empress’ maiden voyage for Pullmantur Cruises took place on 15 March 2008. She is currently operating for them.

Edited May 27, 2010 by Copper10-8

[disfanatiks]

First cruise was the Maasdam in May 2002, Western Caribbean. We had the time of our lives. Our dining room waiter was Made and to this day I still remember him fondly.

 

Next week we board the Rotterdam for Alaska. I am so excited to be on HAL once again. :)